Blindly playing with the GymAware device, measuring velocities only to find out I was doing it wrong, looking at power outputs and having no idea what was a lot or a little…this is how I spent my first 2-3 months with velocity based training. I had no direction, no guide, only a lot of curiosity and smart people around me.

I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Bryan Mann speak on VBT at the Physical Prep Summit in 2015 and that shoved me in a direction. He gave me a list of research he used to form the foundation of VBT. I was wandering around in a dark room until Dr. Mann flipped on a hallway light. Now I had a direction to go in.

Along Came Tony

A few months after purchasing the GymAware, IFAST hired a former intern name Tony Giuliano. Tony has a great mind for data and analytics so VBT immediately had him much like it grabbed me. If the early moments of this experience was the movie Jerry Maguire, VBT definitely “had us at hello”.

We began to organize our VBT training utilizing some of the research. Articles on creating load-velocity profiles, using mean velocity for non-ballistic lifts, peak velocity for ballistic exercises and shifting the force velocity curves became part of our everyday thought process. We just weren’t sure exactly how to use it all just yet.

My excitement for VBT and the science behind was growing exponentially. Every down moment in the office became a shop talk session trying to understand, challenge and dig deeper into training science. Every athlete was becoming a guinea pig and we couldn’t wait to test and re-test to see how the training effected the athlete.

We still had no idea what we were doing but we were heading in the right direction.

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